Marijuana's Patent Spree Puts The 'High' In High Tech

The most lucrative mobile apps have already been built. The odds of developing breakthrough new medicines get tougher all the time. But America's most ingenious minds aren't backing down. Instead, they are flocking to a new area -- marijuana-related technology -- where a patent-filing spree is under way.

Some 266 marijuana-related patents have been approved in the U.S., and another 255 are pending, according to a new analysis by Envision IP, a Raleigh, N.C., patent-research firm. These filings cover everything from proprietary hybrid strains of cannabis, to "clean and efficient growing systems, software-based analytics and monitoring, and packaging and distribution infrastructure."

Nearly half that activity has come in the past three years, as the pace of patent-filing activity has more than quadrupled from levels a decade ago. By Envision IP's tally, nearly 20 companies now hold cannabis-related patents. Among the most active are AbbVie, Jenrin Discovery and Cara Therapeutics.

The impetus for this surge in patent activity, of course, is America's changing legal climate. Wide-open, recreational use of marijuana is now approved for legal use in eight states, including California, Oregon and Washington. Restricted use of marijuana, generally for medical reasons with a doctor's prescription, is allowed in about 20 other jurisdictions, according to Governing.com.

That's a far cry from the norms of, say, 1956, when the federal Narcotics Control Act was passed, spelling out a mandatory prison sentence of two to ten years for people convicted of marijuana possession.